TAMPA, Fla. – Despite a one-hit, complete-game effort from junior pitcher Autumn Courtney, the No. 1-seed Florida Atlantic softball team was defeated 1-0 by No. 4-seed North Texas in the American Athletic Conference semifinals on Friday.
 
The Owls (44-10) found themselves in a pitcher’s duel with the Mean Green (35-20), who broke through in the top of the fifth inning with the game’s lone run, an unearned tally. The unanimous AAC Pitcher of the Year Courtney finished the day with seven strikeouts and an unearned run on the one hit allowed.
 

Courtney made quick work of Mean Green batters in the top of the second, staying ahead of the count on the way to three strikeouts to retire the side.
 
The two teams traded four hitless innings to begin the game. Redshirt sophomore outfielder Kylie Hammonds, the team’s leader in on-base percentage, broke the slow start in the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff double.
 

After Courtney held North Texas hitless until the top of the fifth, a walk followed by the first single of the game saw a run score off a fielding error in right field for a 1-0 Mean Green lead.
 
The Owls responded in the bottom frame with back-to-back hits from sophomores Bella Cimino and Kiley Shelton, putting the former in position to score at third base, but both were left stranded.
 

Courtney kept the Mean Green in check the rest of the way, not allowing a baserunner in the final two innings.
 
With the Owls down to their last out in the bottom of the seventh, a walk from sophomore Ciara Gibson and a hit-by-pitch on Cimino put a potential go-ahead runner in scoring position before a groundout ended the game.
 

• The Owls have allowed less than five hits in eight straight games and have allowed one or less in two of the last three.
• With no earned runs on the day, Courtney’s ERA drops to 1.80. 
• Hammonds has reached base in 23 consecutive games and 50 out of 54 appearances in 2025.
• Shelton continues her hot streak offensively dating back to last weekend, batting .429 in the last four games. 

Florida Atlantic awaits its further postseason fate in the NCAA Regionals Selection Show, taking place Sunday, May 11 at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 
 

For the Owls’ complete schedule, click HERE. To follow the team socially, visit @fausoftball, or for the most up-to-date information, go to www.fausports.com.
 
The Owls’ 2025 postseason is powered by Demand the Limits Injury Attorneys.
 

Wide receiver Trebor Pena leaving Syracuse football hurt. Lately I haven’t felt like I have the passion I once had for college sports. I am not angry at him, his family or the Syracuse staff or anyone in particular but I can’t help feeling lost because this isn’t as fun for me as it once was. It’s taken me a while to want to write this and share it so please allow me to explain.

I’m not a Syracuse University alumni. I was raised in Bridgeport, NY before moving away at 16 and only moving back home a few years ago.

I don’t just like Syracuse…as you can see above, I LOVE Syracuse and have always considered Syracuse home. I may have lived in 5 states and Germany but nothing felt more like home to me than Syracuse. I love Tully’s, Hofmann Frank’s, CNY pizzerias and bakeries, soft ice cream on a warm day, fall weather and apple picking and anything that represents Syracuse including Syracuse University and sports.

I’m also a fan of the New York Mets, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Buffalo Bills & Carolina Panthers and Bundesliga soccer. But none of those compare to the passion and love I’ve had for Syracuse in part because it represents my home.

But for most of my life, Syracuse University and college sports also were so different than pro sports. Players committed to play there for the next 3-4 years and fans like me loved watching their passion and commitment.

My thoughts on the transfer portal in college football.

For the last two seasons, I have written posts about players to watch or who I think will have great seasons and one name always at the top of my list is Trebor Pena. I love that guy and watching him improve year after year was so much fun. I also was a huge fan of watching players come to Syracuse and develop into pro players or at least better than they were when they started. Guys like Rakeem Christmas, Rick Jackson, Alec Lemon and Trebor Pena. Those were the guys I felt like I wanted to root for even more.

Now let’s also get something straight, the fact that for years there was a joke about players getting too much cream cheese on a bagel and being punished by the NCAA for a violation was for valid reasons. Players weren’t allowed to cash in while others profited off of them and that was borderline criminal. They faced so many limitations, fearing penalties all the while getting up at 6 am to fit in practice or gym sessions before class and then maintain both a playbook and their class books and assignments to stay eligible for both.

And players who wanted to transfer if it didn’t work out somewhere or a coach left, had to often sit out a whole season even if that coach could coach right away or even if the player just needed to be closer to home or something wasn’t right at that school.

So I get it. I think there should be some leeway for players to get what they want in life. They should be able to take care of their family & themselves if someone sees their value. And they should be able to say this situation wasn’t what I was promised when I got here, without penalty.

But let’s also be fair to the fans too, many of whom have a bigger passion for college sports than professional because of their love of their alma mater, their home town and/or that college sports was different.

The constant changeover and discussions about finances and raising money in a time when many are struggling to get by themselves or holding on to their passion is a lot to also handle. You want me to buy season tickets, buy merchandise and also contribute to NIL groups while the price of everything in life keeps going up even when most people’s paychecks don’t?

You can’t expect people who, in my case, had watched something for over 40 years (I’m 52) and having to accept such a drastic change. You can’t just expect me to wake up and say that while I understand the reasons, the whole world is changing and I have to just accept it.

And while fans should not under any circumstances feel comfortable personally attacking players or administrators, it’s not easy accepting change. It’s hard to wake up one day and the guys you hoped would be here for another year or even two or three are gone. And now that player you loved and got excited for left for another team, sometimes even in your own conference.

At the end of the day, players are like anyone else and simply want to be happy and provide the best they can for themselves and their families. We have to understand that and I definitely do. I have kids that age and I’d want them to be happy and do what they want to.

And fans want to find that one thing that brings them joy in a world where drama and chaos are abundant and escape reality. Sadly, now the reality is that in the current landscape, there is little feeling of having that safe space to relax anymore because of the transfer portal and NIL and colleges doing anything they can, fairly or unfairly, to gain an advantage.

And if you as a program can’t afford to back up a Brink’s truck, you’re now a feeder system for those who do and your fanbase will be left struggling to find ways to care as much as they once did when it doesn’t seem like others do unless the price is right.

And look, Trebor Pena and every player have a right to make the best choice they can for their future. And we’ve heard Syracuse Head Coach Fran Brown’s response to his leaving and his feelings in general about those who want to leave.

And this one hurt me personally because I have been a huge fan of Trebor since he started here on special teams and constantly showed he was improving when he was healthy and made a positive contribution to this program. Heck I think the last couple years I’ve written about him as one of the guys I expected most to make the biggest impact next season for a reason.

And I am not mad at Trebor or Coach Brown or Syracuse. Everyone is simply doing what’s best for them and I get it. I HATE the drama that surrounds it too but I get it.

But I also can’t help but wonder if this new college sports landscape, as it is right now, has become too much for me and maybe other fans to be as passionate about as we once were. And you can’t just ignore the feelings of those fans who liked it a certain way but now have to adjust. As for me, well right now I honestly am struggling to adjust and be as passionate as I was because it’s not the way it was when I fell in love with it, and I don’t know how much I want to invest in it anymore compared to what I once did.

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee has proposed major rule changes that are expected to improve the “flow” of play ahead of the 2025-26 season, according to a NCAA release Friday afternoon.

Chief among those recommendations is the addition of a single coach’s challenge at any point in the game “to review out-of-bounds calls, basket interference/goaltending and whether a secondary defender was in the restricted-area arc,” the release stated. Committee members also recommended changes to the rule regarding continuous motion on field goal attempts.

The rules committee also recommended the creation of a joint working group to gather feedback from conferences on potentially moving from halves to quarters, though any potential changes to the game’s format won’t come until the next rules change year. The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel must approve all rule proposals, with the panel scheduled to discuss these recommendations June 10.

The committee also proposed an elevated emphasis for officials to address delay-of-game tactics, limiting time at the monitor on reviews, and improving game administration efficiency while also reducing physicality.

“The committee focused on the flow of the game, especially the increased number of stoppages at the end of the game, this past season,” Karl Hicks, committee chair and associate commissioner for basketball at the American Athletic Conference, said in the release. “After soliciting input from the Division I Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, Division I Men’s Basketball Competition Committee and the National Association of Basketball Coaches council, prioritizing the game flow at the end of the game was particularly important for our committee.

“Coach’s challenges were deemed to be the most efficient way to accomplish this goal. Data from the NCAA tournament and membership conferences showed a substantial number of reviews were on out-of-bounds plays. The committee looked at other basketball leagues around the world to see what the best solution would be for the NCAA, and the committee agreed with the NBA coach’s challenge system and its one plus one process.” 

Regarding the proposed coach’s challenge, much like in college football, teams must have a timeout to request an instant replay review. If the challenge review is successful, teams will be granted an additional video review challenge for the remainder of the game, including overtime. If unsuccessful, the team loses the ability to challenge any other calls in the game.

Coach challenges will not impact an officials’ use of instant replay for timing mistakes, scoring errors, shot clock violations, 2-point vs. 3-point field goal attempts, flagrant fouls, etc.

Among other proposals submitted Friday:

• Officials have the option to call a Flagrant 1 foul when a player is hit in the groin area. Currently officials can only call it a common foul or a Flagrant 2, resulting in an ejection.
• A player could be called for basket interference if they use the rim to gain an advantage.
• Should one of the two shot clocks at either end of the court become inoperable, the other shot clock could be utilized. Currently, both clocks are turned off if one is inoperable.

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The Pima Community College athletics program announced a monumental move to put the school ahead of the curve when it comes to endorsements at the junior college level.

The school became the first community college in Arizona to offer name, image, and likeness, or NIL, opportunities for student-athletes.

“It sounds awesome, like it’s something new, it’s different. It’ll be an experiment, for sure, but really intriguing to me,” Pima Aztecs women’s basketball player Reece Neimann said.

Niemann was a part of the Aztecs NJCAA Division two runner-up team this past season. She says being part of a successful team requires a lot of work.

“We’re in the gym for four to five hours a day, some days on our long days,” Niemann said.

At the junior college level, many of these athletes are paying for college themselves since PCC can only offer partial scholarships. This forces athletes to make tough decisions for athletes like Niemann to continue their hoop dreams.

“Four of my teammates had long jobs in the morning, and then they take all online classes, since they couldn’t make it to campus for classes, then they’d go to practice for those four hours between film lifting and then practice, and then after, they’d go home and grind out their homework.”

That’s where NIL comes into play. It allows players to create endorsements or partnerships to make money from their personal brand.

Something which hasn’t been seen on the junior college level in Arizona, until now.

“I think the biggest thing is to stay ahead of the curve and for us to be able to tell recruits, ‘Hey, we’re the first ones in Arizona to do it.’ That just gives us another little thing to brag about and to sell,” Assistant Athletic Director and Head Women’s Basketball Coach for PCC, Todd Holthaus said.

The athletic department is partnering with Opendorse to create a platform for students to connect with local businesses and brands to make money.

Something Holthaus says wouldn’t have even crossed his mind in his playing days.

“I can’t even imagine what it would have been like, and that’s probably a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. So, I’m super excited, because these young people know how to do these things.”

But it’s part of the reason he helped to make this deal, not only to help these athletes while they put on the Aztec uniforms, but also for when they take them off for the last time.

“For them to get a head start on this and get to be able to market themselves, and you know, the big thing is building your own brand. Now, being a part of that is going to be fun,” Holthaus said.

While it’ll take a little bit to get the ball rolling, officials say that the portal is now open for athletes to make a profile to connect with local businesses and start making NIL endorsements or partnerships.

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